Digital Cowboy

“Fight’s not with you, Holliday.”

“I beg to differ, sir. We started a fight we never got to finish. Play for blood. Remember?”

“I was just foolin’ about.”

“I wasn’t. Say when.”

Take from that what you will. I’m just foolin’ about. But, I’m pretty quick on the draw, too. Say when.

I ain’t kiddin’ about “Tombstone.”

If ya got somethin’, bring it. I’ve seen the damn thing so many times, I can simply think about it and start seeing it in my head. First thing I hear is Curly Bill Brocius saying, “Y’all killed two Cowboys.”

Shocked ya with a “Tombstone” post, didn’t I?

“Next time we come, ya better step aside. I ain’t kiddin,’ neither.”

Maybe I should stop, but.. just for you know… I’m goin’ to watch it again.

Just ’cause I can!

I wanted to do a couple more tonight about Ignoramus Abe but it didn’t happen. No flow.

But I’ve got a lot more. I promise. Maybe tomorrow.

For those that didn’t pick up on the title of this post (I know PK did!), it’s a quote from Tombstone. For those that did pick it up (Pay attention, Cartman!), did you know that in the time that movie was set, it was an expletive?

In the mid and late 1800’s, the word “kidding” or “kiddin’” was used the way “f***king” is used today. It makes sense if you think a bit about it.

Curly Bill said, “Next time we come, you better step aside. And I ain’t kiddin’, neither.”

Replace “kiddin’” there with “f***king around” and you’ll get my point. In fact, if you drop the “around,” you’ll see the evolution more clearly.

Just a little Tombstone trivia to hold y’all over until I get back to the proper crucifixion of Lincoln.

(And with that, I probably just made Elena’s NSFW list. Sorry, dear. It’s history.)

What I should’ve included in that last Tombstone post is this…

Just prior to where I began quoting previously, Wyatt says, “How are we feeling today, Doc?”

Doc: “I’m dying. How are you?”

Wyatt: “Pretty much the same.”

Doc: “So now we can add ’self-pity’ to your list of frailties.”

There’s a lot of wisdom in that last line I quoted of Doc’s. Self-pity is not a “frailty,” as he put it. It’s a very dangerous flaw that will kill you if you indulge it. It’s a weapon in a spiritual war. It opens all kinds of doors to your enemy that are hard to close. Don’t EVER feel sorry for yourself. Not for a second. Not ever. Not for any reason. It’s a trap.

A trap that seems to lay in wait for me, freshly baited, every day.

Once again, I’m preaching to me. I hope y’all get something helpful from listening in on my thoughts.

I owe an apology to Pink Kitty. I recently chastised her for misquoting Doc Holliday and Tombstone. It turns out I mangled it as bad as she did. I knew her quote wasn’t correct and as I was typing my comment to her, I had the feeling that I wasn’t either. So I checked and I was right with the sinking feeling and not the quote. Here then is the scene quoted correctly:

(Doc is dying and has just told Wyatt that he was in love once. It happened to be his first cousin and “she joined a convent over the affair.”)

Doc: “She was all I ever wanted. What’d you want Wyatt?”

Wyatt: “Just to live a normal life.”

Doc: “There’s no normal life, Wyatt. There’s just life. Now get on with it.”

Wyatt: “I don’t know how.”

Doc: “Sure ya do. Say goodbye to me. Go get that spirited actress and make her your own. Take that beauty and run. Don’t look back. Live every second. Live right up to the hilt. Live, Wyatt. Live for me.

“Wyatt, if you were ever my friend, if you ever had the slightest feeling for me, leave now… Please.”

There are so many lessons about life in that one little excerpt that I wouldn’t know where to begin. There’s stuff in there about love and friendship and pride and temptations and desire.

I watch that movie and see so much of myself (good and bad) in both Wyatt and Doc that I can’t decide which one I more relate to.

Kevin Jarre and George Cosmatos are just geniuses. In my not so humble opinion, there’s never been a better written screenplay and it was perfectly directed, too. The cast and their acting is superb, but that’s just icing. Actors are waiters in a cheap restaurant without writing and directing.

Here’s a Biblically sound life motto that you can take away from this: Take the beauty and run. Don’t ever look back. Live every second. Live to the hilt. Live for Me.

I’m not saying that Doc is God or even symbolically represents Him. I’m just sayin’ there’s a message there that is something God would say.

I’ve now connected both poker and Tombstone to the Bible. Any challenges for the next unlikely pairing with theology?